Chris Hyndman

Chris Hyndman makes paintings that focus on color and texture, structured surfaces, and the function of pattern and digital tools in staging contemporary identities. Chris’ work has been featured in New American Paintings, Manifest’s International Painting Annual, and solo exhibitions at Bluffton University, the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Michigan, and Susanne Hilberry Gallery. This fall, his paintings will be included in the 2020 Midwestern Biennial at the Rockford Art Museum and Form & Seek: Never Normal at Wasserman Projects in Detroit. Chris is a faculty member in the School of Art & Design at Eastern Michigan University where he has been teaching since 2001. He lives and works in Chicago.

ARTIST STATEMENT

For several years my paintings have suggested shallow stagelike spaces, activated by plaid-patterned forms performing in front of curtains. Recently, they have also included depictions of pennant strings and confetti streamers—the stuff of staged celebrations. I consider “staginess” a fundamental condition of painting and hope for a reflexive relationship between the scenes depicted and their mannered construction as paintings. In terms of fit with earlier work, the latest paintings continue my interest in color and texture, structured surfaces, and the function of pattern and digital tools in the shaping, performing, and imaging of contemporary identities.